Railway hopper car closure actuating device



M y 1967 w. E. FRITZ 3,316,858

RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE ACTUATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 24, 1962 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

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May 2; 1967 w. E. FRITZ RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE ACTUATING DEVICE 5Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1962 INVENTOR. i 51%;, Zyrm, vV me, ham 6(km/1f y 2, 1967 w E. FRITZ 3,316,858

RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE ACTUATING DEVICE Filed Oct. 24, 1962 5Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

4/11/10, A. m; BY

United States Patent 3,316,858 RAILWAY noarnn CAR CLOSURE ACTUATINGnnvron William E. Fritz, Hinsdale, IlL, assignor to Union Tani:

This invention relates to hopper cars and, more particularly, to ahopper car door assembly that elfects unloading of the hopper car.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hopper car adaptedto be unloaded while moving.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide for ahopper car a hopper door assembly that is openedand closed by waysideequipment while the hopper car is moving.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide for a hoppercar hopper door assembly adapted to deposit material during unloadingbetween the rails on which the hopper car rides.

It is another object of the present invention to provide for a hoppercar a hopper door assembly adapted to effectively prevent the loss ofmaterial from the hopper car during transit.

The above and further objects more apparent hereinafter are accomplishedby the hopper car of the present invention having a hopper door assemblyadapted to be automatically opened and closed by wayside means to unloadthe hopper car while it is moving. The hopper car is unloaded overunloading bins positioned below the rails upon which the hopper carrides, the hop-per door assembly assuring that the material is unloadedbe tween the rails to prevent the accumulation of material on the railswhich could cause derailing of trailing cars. In addition, the hopperdoor assembly of the present invention, when closed, assures thatmaterial will not leak from the hopper car.

The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation,taken with further objects and advantages thereof, will be understood byreference to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a hopper car embodying thefeatures of the present invention, illustrating the hopper car inselected positions during an unloading operation;

FIG. 2 is a partially cut-away, side view of the hopper car of FIG. 1,illustrating a hopper door assembly embodying the features of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partially cut-away plan view of the hopper car illustratedin FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion of the hopper door assembly ofthe hopper car shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 66 of FIG.2; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded fragmentary view, partially cutaway, of thegearing arrangement illustrated in FIG. 2;

and

FIG. 8 is an exploded fragmentary view of the gearing arrangementillustrated in FIG. 4.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly to FIG. 1, a hopper carembodying the features of the present invention is illustrated generallyby reference numeral 10. It will be understood that the hopper car It)is just one of many such hopper cars which may be connected to form afreight train moving, for purposes of illustration, from left to righton tracks 12 when viewing FIG. 1

as indicated by arrowed line 13. The hopper car 10 may be loaded, forexample with solid particulate material or the like and its hopper doorassembly, indicated generally by reference numeral 16 (FIGS. 2-4) isclosed. In the unloading zone 14, the hopper door assembly 16 is opened,the solid particulate material in the hopper car 10 is unloaded, and thehopper door assembly 16 is closed in a sequential operation as thehopper car 10 moves on the track 12 at a speed in the range of about oneto ten miles per hour. To this end, the unloading zone 14 includes awayside door opening mechanism, indicated generally by reference numeral18, an unloading bin 20 positioned below the tracks 12, and a waysidedoor closing mechanism, indicated generally by reference numeral 22.

When the locomotive (not shown), for example, of the freight trainpasses the wayside door opening mechanism 18, it trips a switch (notshown) to raise the wayside door opening mechanism 18 into an operativeposition with respect to the trailing hopper car 10. As the hopper car10 moves along side the wayside door opening mechanism 18, the hopperdoor assembly 1 6 of the hopper car 10 is opened and the solidparticulate material in the hopper car 10 falls by gravity from thebottom of the hopper car 10 between the rails 12 and into the unloadingbin 20.

In addition, as the locomotive passes the wayside door closing mechanism22 it trips another switch (not shown) raising the wayside door closingmechanism 22 into an operative position to close the hopper doorassembly d6 of the trailing hopper car 10 as it passes along side of it.In this manner, the hopper cars 10 of the freight train, while travelingat speeds in the range of about one to ten miles per hour, are opened,unloaded and closed as they move through the unloading zone 14, therebyrapidly unloading the hopper car 10 without the necessity of stoppingthe freight train. The caboose, for example, of the freight trainactuates additional switches (not shown) to lower the wayside dooropening mechanism 18 and the wayside door closing mechanism 22.

Referring now to FIGS. 26, the hopper car 10 and its associated hopperdoor assembly 16 embodying the features of the present invention areillustrated in greater detail. The hopper car 10 includes a main body 24having a generally tear-shaped cross-section mounted upon trucks,indicated generally by reference numeral 26, which ride upon the tracks12. The ends of the body 24 of the hopper car 1t have inclined bottomportions 28 which converge inwardly toward each other and aid inunloading the particulate material from the hopper car 10 by directingthe material toward the hopper door assembly 16.

The upper portion of the hopper car .10 has a hatch opening 3hlongitudinally extending along its entire length. A hatch coverassembly, indicated generally by reference numeral 32 is pivotallyattached to the main body 24 and includes a cover means 34, a cam track36, and a pivot actuator means 38. Basically the hatch cover assembly 32is adapted to automatically open prior to the hopper car 10 being loadedand automatically close after the loading operation and, while open,actuate the loading means. The hatch cover assembly 32 is described andillustrated in detail in applicants co-pending application, Ser. No.232,803, filed Oct. 24, 1962, now abandoned, and therefore need not bediscussed in detail herein. It will be understood that the hatch coverassembly 32 does not constitute a part of the present invention. Asdisclosed in the above-mentioned co-pending application, the hatch coverassembly 32 may have a walk-way 40 mounted thereon, which is usable whenthe hatch cover assembly 32 is in its closed position.

The hopper door assembly 16 includes, in this instance, two pair ofopposing hopper doors 42 which are pivotally (.3 attached at their upperends by a plurality of hinge pins 44 or the like to the under part ofthe body 24 of the hopper car 10. The hopper doors 42 are pivotableabout longitudinally extending axes parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe hopper car 10. The hopper doors 42 swing in opposite directions awayfrom one another When moving to their fully open positions in which thedoors .2 hang vertically as shown in phantom in FIG. 3. Conversely asthe doors 42 are being closed they swing in opposite directions towardone another to their fully closed position seen in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6.

The hopper doors 42, when closed, cooperate with the main body 24, atransverse gear housing 25 and longitudinally extending centralpartitions 46 to prevent material from falling out of the hopper carIt). To these ends, the partitions 46 are inverted V-shaped membershaving diverging, downwardly extending legs 48 (FIGURE 6), the ends ofwhich abut against the hopper doors 42 when the latter are closed toprevent material from flowing therebetween. The transverse gear housing25, which houses part of the door hopper assembly 16 in a manner moreapparent hereinafter, has legs 25a and 25b and the main body 24 hasvertically disposed plates 27 (FIG. 2) which cooperate with the hopperdoors 42 to prevent loss of material at the ends thereof.

Furthermore, the main body 24 has vertically disposed, longitudinallyextending lips 50 (FIGS. 3 and 6) which cooperate with a verticallyextending lip 52 on the upper edge of the hopper door 42 to prevent theloss of material between the main body 24 and the doors 42 at thesepoints. The lip 52 also extends along the ends of the hopper doors 42 tocooperate with the legs 25a and 25b and the plates 27 describedhereinbefore. The lower end of the hopper door 42 has an upwardlyextending lip 54 which, as will be more apparent hereinafter, directsthe material being unloaded from the hooper car 18 between the rails 12and prevents it from being scattered on the rails 12 with hazardousconsequences.

The hopper doors 42 are adapted to be automatically opened and closed bythe cooperation of friction wheels 56 and 58 with the wayside dooropening mechanism 18 and the Wayside door closing mechanism 22,respectively, by a gearing arrangement to be described in more detailhereinafter. 'In this instance clockwise rotation of the friction wheel56 opens the hopper doors 42 and clockwise rotation of the frictionwheel 58 closes the hopper doors 42. To these ends, the friction wheels56 and 58 comprise automobile tires or the like rotatably secured atopposite sides of the hopper car upon shafts 6t and 62, respectively.The wayside door opening mechanism 18 and the wayside door closingmechanism 22 each comprise pneumatic cylinders 64 supporting tractionsurfaces 66, such as a piece of railroad track or the like. The dooropening mechanism 18 is mounted on one side of the tracks 12 and thedoor closing mechanism 22 is mounted on the opposite side of the tracks12.

As discussed hereinbefore, when the locomotive passes the door openingmechanism 18 it trips a switch that actuates the pneumatic cylinder 64and causes the rail 66 to move upwardly into an operative position withrespect to the friction wheel 56, as shown in FIG. 3. In this manner thefriction wheel 56 engages the traction surface or rail 66 and the Wheel56 rotates in a clockwise direction. This causes the shaft 60 to rotatealso in a clockwise direction and, through a gearing arrangement to bedescribed in more detail hereinafter, the hopper doors 42 to swing totheir fully opened position shown in phantom in FIG. 3.

After the hopper car 10 is unloaded it approaches the wayside doorclosing mechanism 22, which has been actuated into an operative positionin the same manner as the door opening mechanism 18. Accordingly thefriction wheel 58 engages the rail 66 of the mechanism 18 so that theshaft 62 rotates in a clockwise direction as viewed 4 in FIG. 2. Throughthe gearing mechanism this causes the hopper doors 42 to move back totheir closed, locked position and the hopper car 10 is ready to beloaded again with material. It will be understood that the frictionwheels 56 and 58 and the traction surfaces 66 may be pinions and racks,respectively.

Considering now in more detail the gearing arrangement and assuming thatthe friction wheel 56 and shaft are rotating in a clockwise directionwhen viewing FIG. 2, i.e., the hopper car doors 42 are being opened, theshaft 60 has mounted thereon a pinion 68 which cooperates with a spurgear 70 (FIGS. 2 and 3) mounted upon a transversely extending shaft 72.A worm gear is mounted upon an end of the shaft 72 and cooperates with aworm wheel mounted on a longitudinally extending shaft 76 to form a wormgear arrangement indicated generally by reference number 74 (FIG. 4). Inthis manner, as the shaft 60 rotates in a clockwise direction, the shaft72 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction and, through the worm geararrangement 74, the longitudinally extending shaft 76 is rotated in aclockwise direction when viewing FIGS. 3 and 5.

Mounted on the shaft 76 are a plurality of linkage mechanisms indicatedgenerally by reference numeral 78. As seen in FIG. 2 there is a linkagemechanism 78 at each end of the hopper doors 42 and therefore, since inthis instance there are two pairs of opposing hopper doors 42, there arefour linkage mechanisms 78. The linkage mechanism 78, in a manner moreapparent hereinafter, upon rotation of the shaft 76 causes the hopperdoors 42 to open or close depending upon the direction of rotation ofthe shaft 76. The linkage mechanism also locks the hopper doors 42 whenthey are in their closed position in a manner more apparent hereinafter.

The linkage mechanism 78, as best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, includes crankarms 80 and 82 which are fixedly mounted in spaced axial relationshipupon the longitudinally extending shaft 76. The crank arms 80 and 82 areidentical in construction but are angularly displaced with respect toone another at an angle of about Pivotally attached to the outwardlyextending ends of the crank arms 80 and 82 are connecting arms 84 and86, respectively, these pivotal attachments being effected by pins 88and 98, respectively, or any other suitable means. The other ends of theconnecting arms 84 and 86 are pivot ally connected to opposite hopperdoors 42 in a manner more apparent hereinafter. It will be understoodthat upon clockwise rotation of the shaft 76, when viewing FIG. 5, thatthe crank arms 80 and 82 rotate in a clock wise direction causing theconnecting arms 84 and 86, respectively, to move the hopper doors 42outwardly to their fully open position as shown in phantom in FIG. 5.The position of the crank arms 80 and 82 and the connecting arms 84 and86 when the hopper doors 42 are in their fully open position is alsoshown in phantom in FIG. 5.

The ends of the connecting arms 84 and 86 are pivotaliy connected to thelower ends of the opposing hopper doors 42 by means of eye-bolts 92pivotally connected thereto by pins 94 and )6, respectively. Theeye-bolts 92 extend through sleeves 98 which have been welded or thelike to the hopper doors 42. Nuts 100 and 102 are placed on andthreadedly engage the shank of the eyebolts 92. The nuts 100 and 102 maybe adjusted to assure that the hopper doors 42, when they are in theirclosed position, fit tightly against the main body 24 and the centralpartitions 46 in the manner described herein before. Accordingly thisarrangement affords an adjustment means to assure that material does notpass downwardly between the hopper doors 42 and the main body 24 whenthe doors 42 are in their fully closed position.

Assuming that the hopper doors 42 have reached their open position, suchas shown in phantom in FIGS. 3 and 5, it will be noted that the lips 54form downwardly extending angles with respect to the horizontai ofgreater than 30", thereby assuring that there will be no materialretention on the lip 54 to prevent proper closing of the hopper door 42thereafter. In addition, the flanges or lips 54 extend inwardly towardone another to deflect material between the rails 12 rather than on therails 12. It is important that the material not be deflected onto therails 12, since this could cause derailing of subsequent hopper cars ora subsequent train riding over these rails.

Assuming now that the material in the hopper car has been unloaded viathe openings left exposed when the hopper doors 42 are in their openposition, the hopper car 10 (see FIG. 1) approaches the wayside doorclosing mechanism 22. Accordingly, the friction wheel 58,

and the shaft 62 are rotatably driven in a clockwise direction whenviewing FIG. 2. The shaft 62 has mounted thereon a pinion 104 whichlikewise rotates in a clockwise direction and cooperates with the pinion68, the latter being rotated in a counterclockwise direction. It will beunderstood that at this time the friction wheel 56 no longer engages themechanism 18 and is therefore free, along with the shaft 60, to rotatein a counterclockwise direction. The counterclockwise rotation of thepinion 68 causes the spur gear 70, and its associated shaft 72, torotate in a clockwise direction whereby through the worm geararrangement 74, the longitudinally extending shaft 76 is rotated in acounterclockwise direction. In this manner, the crank arms 80 and 82 arereturned to their original position as shown in FIG. 5 and the hopperdoors 42 closed.

It is a feature of the linkage mechanism 78 that it is self-locking inits closed position. As shown in FIG. 5 when the hopper doors 42 areclosed the pins 88 and 90 are over-center with respect to a center line120 through the pin 96 and the shaft 76 and a center line 122 throughthe pin 94 and the shaft 76, respectively. Thus when the linkingmechanism 78 has closed the hopper doors 42, the crank arms 80 and 82are over-center and therefore will not, without large initial force,rotate in a clockwise direction to open the hopper doors 42. In thismanner the linkage mechanism 78 automatically locks the doors 42 intheir closed position. The worm gear arrangement 74 inherently providesa secondary locking of the hopper doors 42, whether they be in theiropen or closed positions, due to the Worm gear arrangement 74 being of aself-locking type.

It will be understood that an advantage of the present hopper doorassembly 16 is that the hopper doors 42 swing away from one another whenmoving to their respective open positions. This exposes a greater areafor dumping material between the tracks 12 when compared to the use ofhopper doors which swing toward one another when they are opened.

It will be further understood that the hopper door assembly 16 discussedhereinbefore is provided not only to enable the hopper doors to besuccessively opened and closed as the train moves in one direction,namely from left to right when viewing FIG. 1, but also will permit theopening and closing of the hopper doors 42 even if any one or all of thecars should be reversed end-to-end. If any car is reversed end-to-endthe friction wheel 58 thereby opens the hopper doors 42 while thefriction wheel 56 would close the hopper doors 42.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the unloading zone 14 mayinclude a plurality of unloading bins 20 aligned with one anotherbeneath the tracks 12 and that each loading bin may have associatedtherewith its own wayside door opening mechanism 18 which areselectively actuated to unload some of the hopper cars 10 in the freighttrain. For example, it may be desirable to unload the first few hoppercars in the first bin, the next few hopper cars in the second bin and soon. In such an instance it will, of course, only be necessary to haveone wayside door closing mechanism 22 positioned at the end of theplurality of unloading bins 20 employed in the unloading area 14.

While the embodiments described herein are at present considered to bepreferred, it will be understood that various modifications andimprovements may be made therein and it is intended to cover in theappended claims all such modifications and improvements as fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is desired to be claimed and secured by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. Apparatus for controlling opening and closing of a pair of pivotablehopper doors on a. hopper car during movement of the car in a certaindirection comprising said hopper doors being pivoted aboutlongitudinally extending axes, first and second rotatable shaftspositioned on opposite sides of said car, said first and second shaftshaving a first and second shaft rotation actuator, respectively, thereonon opposite sides of said car, said first and second shafts each havingfirst gear means thereon, each of said first gear means directlyengaging one another, said first gear means on said first shaft alsodirectly engaging a second gear means mounted upon a third rotatableshaft, a fourth rotatable shaft extending longitudinally of said hoppercar between said hopper doors, said third rotatable shaft driving saidfourth rotatable shaft through third gear means, means connecting saidfourth shaft and said hopper doors to open and close said hopper doorsupon rotation of said fourth shaft, rotation of said first rotationactuator while said second rotation actuator is free to rotate causingsaid doors to open and rotation of said second rotation actuator in thesame direction while said first rotation actuator is free causing saiddoors to close.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means connecting said fourthshaft and said hopper doors comprises a linkage mechanism including apair of crank arms mounted on said fourth shaft, said crank arms havingfree ends pivotally attached to connecting arms, pivotable connectionmeans attaching said connection arms to said hopper doors, saidconnection means being adjustable to assure a tight fit between saidhopper doors and said hopper car when said doors are closed.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said connection means includeseye-bolts pivotally connected to said connecting arms, said eye-boltsextending through sleeves fixedly secured to said hopper door, saideye-bolt having a threaded shank threadedly engaging attachment meanswhereby the position of said hopper doors with respect to said hoppercar may be adjusted.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the pivotal connections between saidshank arms and said connecting arms are over-center when said hopperdoors are closed to provide looking for said hopper doors when saidhopper doors are closed.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said hopper doors have free endswhich swing away from one another as said hopper doors are opening andtoward one another when said hopper doors are closing, said free ends ofsaid hopper doors having longitudinally extending lips, said lips whensaid hopper doors are in their open position extending downwardly andinwardly toward one another to direct material being unloaded from saidhopper car between the rails upon which said hopper car rides.

6. In an apparatus for controlling, from the wayside, opening andclosing of two opposing, longitudinally pivotable hopper doors on ahopper car during movement of the car in a certain direction forcontrolling discharge of material from said hopper car into an unloadingbin, the combination of first and second rotatable shafts carried bysaid car, said first and second shafts having a first and second shaftrotation actuator, respectively, thereon on opposite sides of said car,said first and second shafts each having a pinion thereon, each of saidpinions on said first and second shafts directly engaging one another.said pinion on said first shaft directly engaging a spur gear mountedupon a third rotatable shaft having a worm gear associated therewith, aworm wheel cooperatively engaging said worm gear, said worm wheel beingattached to a longitudinally extending fourth rotatable shaft, a linkingmechanism connected to said hopper doors and mounted on said fourthshaft, said linking mechanism including two crank arms fixedly securedto said longitudinally extending shaft in spaced relationship, saidcrank arms being angularly disposed with respect to one another, saidcrank arms having free ends pivotally attached to connecting arms eachof which are attached to one of said hopper car doors, whereby rotationof said first 'rotation actuator while said second rotation actuator isfree to rotate causes opening of said doors and rotation of said secondrotation actuator in the same direction while said first rotationactuator is free to rotate causes closing of said doors.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 including said hopper doors being connectedto said connecting arm by means of eye-bolts pivotally connected to saidconnecting arms, said eye-bolts extending through sleeves fixedlysecured to said hopper door, said eye-bolt having a threaded shankthreadedly engaging attachment means whereby the position of said hopperdoors with respect to said hopper car may be adjusted.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 including said hopper doors having lips onthe lower edges thereof, said lips extending downwardly and inwardlytoward one another when said hopper doors are open.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 including wherein the pivotal connectionbetween said shank arms and said connecting arms are over-center whensaid hopper doors are closed to provide locking for said hopper doorswhen said hopper doors are closed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Kassler -311Hindahl 105-303 Warner 214-63 Wright 105-250 Christianson 1105-250Kassler 105-311 Yost 105-250 Dorey 105-250 Lunde 105-310 X Dorey 105-304X Lingard 214-63 Giesking 105-251 X Hamilton et al 105-251 Charles etal. 105-240 References Cited by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1890 Richter 2 14-18 10/1894 Roberts 105-253 7/1901 Peterler 214-586/1908 Ely 214-63 3/1911 Blaker 214-63 12/1912 Lawson 214-43 3/'19'14Crawford 214-63 FOREIGN PATENTS 9/"1957 Canada.

1/ 1940 Canada.

6/ 1961 Canada.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner. LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner. H.BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING OPENING AND CLOSING OF A PAIR OF PIVOTABLEHOPPER DOORS ON A HOPPER CAR DURING MOVEMENT OF THE CAR IN CERTAINDIRECTION COMPRISING SAID HOPPER DOORS BEING PIVOTED ABOUTLONGITUDINALLY EXTENDING AXES, FIRST AND SECOND ROTATABLE SHAFTSPOSITIONED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CAR, SAID FIRST AND SECOND SHAFTSHAVING A FIRST AND SECOND SHAFT ROTATION ACTUATOR, RESPECTIVELY, THEREONON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CAR, SAID FIRST AND SECOND SHAFTS EACH HAVINGFIRST GEAR MEANS THEREON, EACH OF SAID FIRST GEAR MEANS DIRECTLYENGAGING ONE ANOTHER, SAID FIRST GEAR MEANS ON SAID FIRST SHAFT ALSODIRECTLY ENGAGING A SECOND GEAR MEANS MOUNTED UPON A THIRD ROTATABLESHAFT, A FOURTH ROTATABLE SHAFT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF SAID HOPPERCAR BETWEEN SAID HOPPER DOORS, SAID THIRD ROTATABLE SHAFT DRIVING SAIDFOURTH